Tales of the Doomed: Felix Felicis
by Leeohm
Summary: "Miss Evans, how could you hate it here? It's your very first year! Don't you enjoy the classes and learning? Hogwarts was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. Don't you have friends-" "No!" Lily sobbed."I lost them all. If they ever really liked me in the first place." It's Lily's first year at Hogwarts, and she dreams of Liquid Luck.
1. Frank Sinatra and other Muggles

_To the Lovely and Articulate Miss Petunia Evans,_

 _First and foremost, I must thank you for the most enjoyable morning I had while receiving your perfectly addressed letter._

 _My dear friend Harold Skively rushed into my office this morning with your letter clutched in his hand as if it were the most sought after treasure in the world. Mr. Skively works for the Ministry of Magic you see, in their Committee of Magical Communication Affairs. Unfortunately, a few years ago he offended quite a few people at a Christmas party with an untimely and crude Goblin impression, so he was demoted to Post Office Patrol, a job not exactly sought after for its excitement since it's uncommon for non-magical people to regularly communicate with the magical world through what we call the the "Muggle Mail". However, Mr. Skively had triumphantly found your letter and delivered it to me within the hour, and I daresay it was the highlight of his year._

 _Now, Miss Evans, to address the concerns you've brought up in your letter. You are certainly not the first person to ask for admittance to Hogwarts, and though it pains me to the core, I have to say no._

 _I've often said magic can be very cruel in the way it selects only certain family members and skips over others. Hogwarts is a school only for those who have been selected due to their magical ability. You will not have an enjoyable experience at Hogwarts if you are unable to do magic. My best advice to you is to not under any circumstance allow this to change your relationship with your sister. I can see that you two love each other very much indeed._

 _I will say that being able to do magic is simply one talent in a multitude of talents available. Some of the happiest people I've met, including your dear parents, are the people who have found one passion in life and made the most of it. There are plenty of ways to experience magic without necessarily having a wand. I, for one, find the ability to produce a fine concerto piece of music on par with the best Patronus Charm (a difficult piece of magic). If I recall correctly, your parents mentioned you are quite gifted in the visual arts? Perhaps this is your magic. I advise you to nurture that talent, and I assure you that it will be just as satisfying as any piece of magic your sister could do. You have the ability to become extraordinary, Petunia. Don't let bitterness, hurt or resentment rob that from you._

 _Finally, I must tell you that I enjoyed my visit to your home. It's been a quite some time since I've felt so welcomed in any student's home, especially one not used to magical behavior. One house I visited last year in Surrey set their pack of rottweilers on me. I still have the scars!_

 _Your sister, Lily, seems to have remarkable command of magic. There are very few children who can control their unintentional bouts of magical activity, but something about magic seems to like Lily. I say this not to incite jealousy, but to inspire you to find your own beautiful magic, and continue to nurture your wonderful relationship with your sister._

 _I do hope this letter finds you in good spirits, and I encourage you to write me back. I always enjoy new pen pals, as many of my old ones are no longer living._

 _Most Sincerely,_

Albus Dumledore

 _P.S_

 _Give my regards to both Richard and Georgina. And do tell your mother to send the recipe for her delicious macaroons._

* * *

Lily sat perched on the highest branch of the elm tree and peered out at her miniature surroundings. She couldn't see anyone else in the park.

She loved to come here, she felt connected to nature in ways she could never explain. She had wondered if it was because she was magical. And on this day, her last day of summer vacation, she could think of no better way to spend than outdoors. She breathed in the air that smelled slightly like the dingy river nearby. Tomorrow everything would change. Or rather it would all begin.

With one last look around, she closed her eyes and jumped.

* * *

"There's absolutely nothing like London in autumn" Mrs. Evans sighed, sticking her head out of the car's rolled down window as it meandered through the city's traffic.

"It's still summer" muttered Petunia, grumpily, in the backseat of the well worn Ford Cortina.

Petunia was taller than Lily, even sitting slumped and melancholy, with long frilly blonde hair and a pretty but very angular face, that when she was scowling reminded Lily of a dissatisfied horse. Lily knew Petunia was thinking of all the other things she could be doing in this weather besides being cramped in the backseat of a car.

Petunia dropped her voice even lower to make sure her mother could not hear. "Honestly, she's so dramatic. People only ever say that about New York City."

She was seemingly talking to herself, since she had refused to acknowledge her sister sitting a mere foot and a half from her for the entire length of the car ride.

Lily tried to meet her eyes, at least for a our -mum-is-a-bit-ridiculous-of-a -person commiserating eye roll, but Petunia stayed staring stonily at the seat in front of her, and Lily ended up exchanging looks with a bag-laden tramp who was peering curiously through Petunia's rolled up window, as their car inched its way through the crowded streets.

"And Sinatra on the radio. It's just a lovely day, it truly is " their mum continued, clearly unconcerned about her seasonal inaccuracy. She squeezed Mr. Evans' hand on the steering wheel.

"It's almost… magical" Mr Evans said, taking his eyes off the stagnant city traffic to turn around and wink dramatically at Lily in the backseat.

Lily flashed him a forced smile. Driving with her parents down the packed streets of London was beginning to grind on her nerves. She surmised they must have been close to Carnby St. judging by the number of people walking around with shopping bags. Between her father's poor driving and her mother's adulation of every aspect of the trip, Lily was almost ready to jump ship and join the throng of young shoppers.

Half of the car jolted as the car rode up on a curb.

"Mind the road, Dad." she said, as nicely as she could. "He just almost ran over an entire bus stop." she muttered to Petunia, but she might as well have been talking to her self.

Lily sighed as she stared out the window at the group of people at the bus stop who were now cautiously edging the way back to the curb where they had been standing prior to her father's inadvertent ambush. Many of them were throwing dirty looks towards the beige cartina.

She could just imagine what they were thinking _Small town northerners first time driving around in London_. _No better than bleeding American tourist_ s.

She did not want to be so annoyed with her parents. They had been so wonderful and supportive to Lily since she received her Hogwart's letter. It was slightly over the top, to be honest. "Our little enchantress" they had called her. Most of this was due to her mother, who was the type of woman who loved anything extravagant, and the world of magic fit right into that. Her only question to Professor Dumbledore, when he had come to explain everything about Hogwarts, was to inquire about where he had purchased his high-heeled buckle boots, and did they make them in women's?

Lily's parents had accepted Lily's magic into their lives with such open arms Lily felt that she was suffocating. Her mum had taken to decorating the interior of their house with miniature witch hats, which sat upon the tops of lamps, the corners of windows, and even on top of the downstairs loo. Lily for the life her could not fathom where her mother had found hats the size of small figurines except for perhaps a costume shop specifically for rodents.

Her parents had also laid out all of her new Hogwarts supplies in the front sitting room, for any guests to see. And when they inquired, (which of course they were sure to do having seen a set of brass scales and a pointed black hat in a sitting room) her parent's just smiled knowingly and said "Lily will be attending a very special school in the fall. It's all we can say on the subject at the moment." And her father would give one of his zealous winks. Last week, Lily had even caught her mum filling her pewter standard size 2 cauldron with potpourri.

Lily traced the stitching on the back of her father's seat. She was happy her parents supported her, she truly was. She knew from things Sev had said that not all non-magical- _muggles,_ she corrected herself- were so supportive of their magical offspring. It's just that Hogwarts seemed so mythical so magical so ancient, so rich in history unknown to Lily, that driving down the packed streets of London in a midsize sedan with her mother blasting Sinatra seemed to cheapen the experience of her first day at Hogwarts. She felt as if she should be traveling by horse and carriage, or something more archaic. She looked at her wand sticking out of her jacket pocket. 10 and a half inches, willow with unicorn hair. It seemed scandalously out of place in such a Muggle environment.

Her parents did not understand, and how could they? How could even Lily herself understand, the intricate and beautiful magical world that existed? Up until now it had been well out of their reach.

And then there was Petunia. Since Lily's letter arrived months ago, she had been insufferably moody.

Her grumpy moods since the beginning of the summer had been in a crescendo with today being the peak. Yes, Mum and Dad were paying Lily a bit more attention. But, really, what about the wretched art showing at the gallery, when Petunia's abstract painting of a camel had been showcased as the Up and Coming Student Painter of the month? They had gone on about that stupid camel for ages. Mum had made a seemingly infinite amount of copies of the 4-humped thing and plastered them in all the windows of the house. Couldn't Petunia just understand that it was Lily's time now?

Lily did feel a bit guilty about her parent's indulgence of her after last week when Sev convinced her to sneak into Petunia's room while she was at a friend's house in order to steal her pet crawfish. Sev had told her he had nicked an Engorging Serum from home that would make Nigel grow to the size of cat. Of course, they never ended up taking the crawfish because Severeus, in his ever observant ways, had found a letter from Albus Dumbledore gently denying Petunia's request to come to Hogwarts, and they had both found that infinitely more interesting.

She had not liked how reading that letter made her feel in her stomach. It felt like a mixture of pity and sadness. And so she had dragged Sev by the arm out of her sisters room, amidst his musings about muggle postmen. It was just as well since Lily found later, as she peaked ahead in her Magical Drafts and Potions textbook, the potion they were intending to use would have resulted in Nigel popping like balloon after he grew.

Almost as if Petunia could read her mind she turned sharply toward Lily and finally acknowledged her presence.

"Will we be seeing that awful boy at the station?"

"His name is Severus! You know that! He had dinner at our house last week, you can address him by name now." Lily hissed back. If you've eaten a steak and kidney pie with someone at the same table they earn the right for you to address them by name.

"Oh yes how could I forget that lovely experience. I hope they have a course in dinner etiquette at that wonky school, as he certainly needs it." she hissed back. Petunia had always had a great admiration for proper etiquette and manners, which was ironic because at the moment she was behaving like a rude twat.

"He was nervous! And you weren't helping by glaring at him-"

"He barely said a word the whole time! Mum asked him what he did for fun and he said 'Nothing'. How is that answer? Couldn't he at least lie? And he never even thanked Mum for the food-"

"Now girls, stop bickering and help me find a decent parking spot. We need all sets of eyes looking, this city is mobbed today." Their dad turned around again to look at Petunia and Lily.

"It's London, it's mobbed everyday." Lily said. Her father considered any street with over three cars parked on it to be "mobbed" or "jammed packed". Needless to say, the Evans family were not big city folk.

"Right here, Richard! Right here, just mind the sign." Her mum pointed a spot out that was most certainly not a legal spot, in fact the sign her mum was pointing to said just as much in bold red letters. But Lily did not interfere. It was almost noon and she had a train to catch.

After Dad had finagled the vehicle to fit in, dinging the "No parking" sign twice and parking with half the car tilted up on the curb, Lily jumped out of the car and opened the trunk to get her stuff.

"Help Lily with her things, Petunia darling" her Mum said as she and Lily's dad unfolded a comically huge map of Kings Cross.

"I do hope you truly like that boy though, Lily." whispered Petunia as she picked out the smallest parcel Lily had to carry.

"And why is that?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Because he's going to be the only friend you'll have. Just like he's the only friend you have now"

"That's not true! Sally Spencer is my friend. And Roberta and Janet and -"

"And how many of them have come to dinner? You don't even play with any of them now since you met that Snape boy. And they don't want to play with you. They think you're weird!"

 _Ah, so we are back to this,_ Lily thought. Petunia had adopted this aversion to anything about Lily's magical ability. It was so clearly all a facade. Lily knew Tuney would trade anything to be able to do the things Lily could do. She began steering her sister by the hand toward the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10, while her parents followed behind, beaming at everything in sight. In between 9 and 10 thats what Dumbledore had instructed. _"Don't think too much about it, just run"_ was Sev's advice.

"I don't care if they think I'm weird, I'm going somewhere where everyone else is magic like me." Lily said smugly.

"You don't get it do you?" said Petunia as she stumbled behind Lily pulling her, "Just cause you can do all the... the magic stuff, you think you are so much better than everyone and telling everyone what they should be doing all the time. You act like you're better than them. You act like your better than me! The only reason the Snape boy can tolerate you is because he knows he isn't better than anyone so he doesn't mind that you act like that." Petunia took a big breath "-And why the hell are you steering me into a brick wall?"

Lily had been pulling Tuney toward the wall she had been instructed to run through, but she stopped in her tracks just a few feet short of the bricks. Petunia's, Tuney's, words had fallen, like weights, deep into the pit of her stomach. Perhaps it was her use of the word magic, or the fact that Tuney had almost seemed to be on the verge of tears but Lily felt that her sister was being sincere for once, which was something Tuney had been avoiding in the past few months.

Did Tuney really feel like Lily felt she was better than her because of her magic? Had Lily been acting like that? _Well of course you have you dim wit,_ her mouthy voice inside of her head answered. Jumping off swings, making flowers open and close. Lily felt her eyes burn with tears and her lower lip began to tremble, as it did most times Lily became upset.

"Oh Tuney, I never meant to act like I was better than you. Or anyone. I promise-"

"This is exactly what you do! This is exactly what you do when you're caught doing anything! You just cry and everything goes away!"

Petunia's words were harsh but her own clear blue eyes were beginning to well up with tears of their own.

Lily dropped her grip on Petunia's arm and grabbed her hand instead. More so they wouldn't be standing in the middle of King's Cross crying at one another, she began run toward the wall, with her eyes squeezed shut, pulling her sister behind her. Petunia let out a high pitch scream behind her.

"Tuney it's ok close your eyes, we're doing this together." She prepared her self for the crash. "Tuney I love you and I'm sorry, I really am-"

Lily let out a huge exhale of relief when the hard bricks that were supposed to have met her kneecaps never came. She stepped out on the platform. Smoke was billowing around a scarlet steam engine and a sign said quite clearly Platform 9 and 3/4. It looked very much like a regular platform, like the ones they had just passed by, only the people milling about were dressed in long robes and pointed hats. There were cages with owls chirping away, and children just like her with their wands at their side.

"Oh Tuney! Look! It does exist!" Petunia was still holding Lily's hand and had an expression of bewilderment and terror on her face.

"What just happened? How did we get through that wall. Lily- what did you do! How can I get back-" At that moment, their parents emerged through the smoke, both looking as if they had just been on the best amusement park ride of their life.

"Now wasn't that just amazing! Just like the old magical guy said. Nothing to it, walking right through a wall, can you imagine Georgie?" Mr. Evans looked around excitedly, as if he were expecting an audience to erupt in applause for his first magic trick.

"Absolutely incredible! I haven't felt such a rush of excitement in ages!" Her mum put her hand to her chest as she looked around the platform. "And everyone looks so...magical. Like Halloween! Now, I wonder what they all think of the drab way we're dressed."

 _They think_ , Lily thought to herself, _the same thing that I think which is that you look like the most Muggle looking people, in the history of muggles_.

Her father, short with curly greying black hair and a handle bar mustache, had on his stained gardening jeans pulled up way too high, and an old Tottenham Spurs t-shirt, which Lily was sure no witch or wizard had heard of. He was at least more appropriately dressed than her mother, who tall and blonde, stood out like a flame in the sea of dark robes with her neon pink trouser suit and gaudy gold jewelry. Lily had held her tongue in regards to her mother's wardrobe today because she knew the blazer was one of her Mum's favorites. Her mum had the bold fashion sense of a much wealthier woman, and was always gushing about the most outlandish styles. She acted like being a housewife in Cokeworth was the most glamorous lifestyle one could have.

Lily edged away from her parents and turned once again to Petunia.

"Tuney, I really am sorry. I'm not any better than you. Just cause I can do that stuff, it doesn't mean anything. "

"Oh save it for Mum and Dad. You can't hide anything from me" Petunia had gotten over her terror at transcending through a solid wall, and was glaring around the platform as if the people surrounding her were a dangerous breed of monkeys.

Lily sighed, it was like chasing smoke trying to get Petunia to level with her.

"Well won't you at least miss me? Hmm, Tuney?" she squeezed her sister's hand "Won't you miss me when I'm gone for so long?"

Petunia sniffed and continued to look around the platform, not meeting Lily's eyes. "I'll miss the old Lily. The Lily who used to play with me and not shove all of her stupid tricks in my face. The one who didn't think she was so much better than anyone else alive. Yes, her I will miss." Lily felt the tears coming back again. She was dimly aware of the platform becoming more and more crowded with children her age.

"I'm sorry, Tuney. I'm sorry! Listen-" she grabbed Petunia's hand again. "Maybe once I'm there-no listen Tuney! Maybe once I'm there I'll be able to go to Professor Dumbledore and persuade him to change his mind"

"I -don't- want- to -go!" said Petunia wrenching her hand out of Lily's grasp. "you think I want to go to some castle and learn to be a-a-" she paused to catch her breath "You think I want to be-a-a freak?" Lily felt her eyes fill with tears yet again, but these were tears of frustration. Petunia was so close to being genuine before, mean, yes but genuine. Now she was back spouting this Lily is a freak spiel, which Petunia could hide safely behind.

Okay, so that's how she wanted to play this. Lily had been nothing but gracious and accepting of Tuney's criticism all morning, which was a hard feat for Lily. But, if Petunia wanted to hide behind fake insults and avoid the actual dilemma. Lily would bring the ammo.

"I'm not a freak" Lily said coldly, though she knew her frustrated tears were dangerously close to leaking out "That's a horrible thing to say!"

"That's where you're going." said Petunia and Lily felt her blood start to boil. "A special school for freaks. You and that Snape boy... weirdos, that's what you two are. It's good you're being separated from normal people. It's for our safety." Lily glanced toward her parents, who were still beaming around the platform like bumbling idiots. Time to drop the bomb.

"You didn't think it was such a freak's school when you wrote to the headmaster and begged him to take you" Lily said smugly. _Yes how does that truth taste Petunia?_

"Beg? I didn't beg!"

"I saw his reply it was very kind" Lily felt her own face get flushed like Petunia's. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus, already changed into baggy robes standing a few yards away closely watching the argument between the girls unfold with no attempt to hide his curiosity.

"You shouldn't have read-"whispered Petunia. "that was my private- how could you-"

It was clear from Petunia's shameful whispers that Lily had her cornered. Victory, though, was not as sweet as she imagined. It tasted a bit like guilt. She stole a glance at Sev who almost certainly could now hear every word of this argument, as more people turned to stare.

"That boy found it! You and that boy have been sneaking in my room!"

 _Yes but only to try to blow up your hermit crab_ , Lily thought guiltily. Lily realized she, like her sister, had been caught as well. She was a sneak, and the dozen or so people staring at her and Petunia's row probably realized it as well.

"No-not sneaking-" Lily tried to lower her voice to elaborate on the full story. Well, she thought, at least Tuney already hated Sev so she felt less guilty about throwing him under the bus. " Severus saw the envelope and he couldn't believe a muggle could have contacted Hogwarts that's all! He says there must be wizards working undercover in the postal service who take care of-"

"Apparently wizards poke their noses everywhere!" Petunia was pale now. Both sisters stood glaring at each other. Something had broken between them, something not very strong to begin with, but something that had been there all the same. Lily could feel Tuney's hatred radiating off of her like body heat. More and more people were staring and Lily distinctly heard a voice mutter _"Every year. Every year there's some family blow out. Always the Muggleborns too_ "

"Freak!" Petunia spat and turned toward her parents, who despite multiple other families taking interest in the argument had remained blissfully unaware of their daughters' public strife, and were petting a young boy's color changing iguana.

* * *

Lily took a deep breath and tried heaving her trunk again onto the luggage rack. The combination of being quite small for her age, and having over-packed excessively with the help of her mother did not allow for a trunk that was easy to lift.

She felt her face getting flushed and sweaty. She should have allowed Dad to come up on the train to help and not shooed her parents away as if she was ashamed of them. She hadn't even waited for Sev, as she felt quite cross with him.

Why did he make her sneak into Tuney's room in the first place? Why was he always getting her into trouble? She hadn't even said good-bye. The longest Lily would be apart from her sister and she hadn't even said goodbye.

Her parents of course had made a big show. Her father had knelt down so he was on eye level with Lily.

"Lily, you know that you and your sister are named after my very favorite perennials in the Northern British garden. " he had said, very seriously. "But the thing about you is, and I've always known since the day you were born-" his green eyes welled up with tears. It was not difficult to tell from which of her parents Lily had inherited her labile emotions. "Lilies are flowers with such a powerful history. I knew, Lily, I knew since I saw those green eyes, there was something magical about you. And now-" he choked on his tears "and now you get to learn all this magic and become _so_ amazing" At this point, Mum had graciously interrupted him.

"Richard, darling, people are staring. Now let me say good-bye to our little girl" she put her hand under Lily's chin. "Lily, you beautiful girl, my darling, we will miss you everyday. Once you find out how to send mail you must write, right away. I want to hear about everything. All of your friends. All of the kooky magic. All of it." Lily felt bad about being ashamed of her mother's outfit earlier on in the day. "And of course, I will send you some macaroons, fudge, whatever you like. Just ask!" Apart from being an avid fashion fan, Mum was also a very talented baker.

"Do you need some help?" a small voice asked and Lily whipped around, a short boy with full pink cheeks and blondish hair was looking at her with some concern. He had apparently just lifted his own trunk up, although how Lily wasn't sure how since he wasn't too much bigger than she was.

"Oh-er-sure." she was taken aback this was the first wizard her age she was interacting with. Except Sev she reminded herself. There was always Sev. She gained some composure.

"Sure that would be lovely" She cringed at herself. _Lovely?_ She sounded like her mother, she nearly almost said darling. "I'm Lily by the way" as the young boy struggled to push her trunk on top of the rack.

"Lily, nice to.." he took a deep breathe as he gave the trunk one final heave and it fell on top of the rack "-meet you. I'm Peter. Peter Pettigrew. You'll be a first year then? I am too" he wiped his sweaty bangs out of the way.

"A what? Oh yes, a first year. Yes I'm just starting out. And yourself?" _He already said he was a first year, idiot._ Lily panicked. She was all out of sorts. It had been a while since she had to meet anyone new and all of the emotions with Tuney and Sev had put her a right state.

"I'm sorry Peter, I'm a bit nervous just with everything starting out and all." He gave Lily a smile and she noticed he had pale blue eyes similar to the shade of Petunias.

"There's loads of first years in a compartment toward the front of the train. Care to join?"

Oh Peter, yes, yes of course, she thought. She would get to meet all the students going to school with her. Trying to contain her excitement, she nodded silently at Peter.

* * *

 _Well this was a bust_ , Lily thought as she peered out of the window looking for another compartment.

Peter had lead her to a compartment jammed packed with obnoxious boys who, Lily presumed, were other first years. She wouldn't know however, since none of them had introduced themselves or acknowledged her in any way. Attempted jump across the width of the compartment? Yes. Hang off of the light fixtures? Of course. But introduce themselves? No.

She had hoped Peter would keep her company but he had disappeared into the mass of young boys and left Lily with her face pressed to the window, trying to avoid getting an elbow in the cheek, as they climbed on top of one another.

Lily tried not to think of about Petunia, how it would be so long before she would see her sister's blue eyes so close to Peter's. Once she was home again would Petunia even want to talk to her anymore? Would they become like her mother and her Aunt Betty, who never talked to each other except to hurl perfectly crafted insults about each other's appearances over the phone? Lily had never even met her aunt and Lily's mum often told other people that she was an only child.

At that moment the door slid open, and Lily found her self staring into the vortex like black eyes of Severus. She immediately turned away.

"I don't want to talk to you" she said, if he costed her Petunia she would never forgive him.

"Why not?" Sev whispered, as he stared at her, confused. Hurt. How could he not understand what he had done?

"Tuney hates m-me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore." Severus still looked confused, but less hurt. He leaned back so his back was against the seat but his oversized robes bunched up around his neck and he looked like a floating head. If Lily wasn't so cross with him she would have laughed and patted his stringy black hair.

He sighed "So what?"

"So she's my sister" Sev didn't have any siblings that Lily knew of. Maybe that's why he never understood why Lily cared about Petunia. She shook her head disdainfully at him and felt her eyes start tearing again. No she was not going to cry today, again. Not in front of Sev and all of these other boys. He started to say something about Petunia but Lily didn't quite catch it, as she was frantically wiping her tears away with her sleeve. _Stop. Crying . Now_.

"But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Lily stopped trying to wipe her tears and looked at him in surprise. His dark eyes were blazing, his face which usually held a discontented frown, looked truly happy. His nose looked much less longer than usual and Lily realized suddenly that it was because he was smiling. She returned the smile halfheartedly.

"You had better be in Slytherin" he said gently, still smiling. Lily had heard of the various houses, from Sev and from the introduction to Hogwarts by Professor Dumbledore. But they had just sounded like funny names to her, devoid of all meaning, and part of some distant future. Griffinclaw, and Pufflelkins? She tried to recall what they stood for. She should have been more prepared for this.

She was about to surreptitiously ask Sev about the different houses, not wanting to showcase her ignorance to the entire crowd, when one of the rambunctious boys (the one who had previously been swinging off of the light fixture) rudely interrupted them.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you" he said in a voice that was filled with disgust. His voice and expression said quite clearly that anyone in the compartment who wouldn't promptly leave if they were in this Slytherin, could go ahead and hop off the moving train right now ,thank you very much.

He was slight, and had tousled black hair with square shaped glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose and gave him a sort of cocky look, as peered over them with bright hazel eyes. Lily scowled, he reminded her of the bullies in her grade school.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin" a voice answered from the seats across her. Lily turned her head. She located the source of the second voice as a boy who was lounged on top of the seat bed. He also had dark hair, but his fell smoothly over his eyes. He gave Lily an expressionless look as she met his grey eyes.

"Blimey!" said the first boy and he grabbed on to the light again and swung so his feet were up on the level the second boy was laying. He gave the boy's belly a good poke with the tip of his foot. "And I thought you seemed alright!"

The second boy grinned which is not the reaction Lily would have had, had she been prodded in the stomach with a toe. But then he grabbed the boys foot and threw it down so that the first boy swung from light again and howled with laughter. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you headed if you got the choice?"

It occurred to Lily that everyone in the compartment was watching the interaction between the two boys, like her, with interest and confusion.

The first boy released his grip from the light fixture, and jumped dramatically to the center of the compartment. He withdrew an invisible but evidently heavy, sword. He pretended to impale the boy across from him, which happened to be Peter. Peter gave an admirable silent impression of death from impalement, that in Lily's opinion, was underappreciated by the surrounding crowd.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad!" he shouted. So they were both from wizarding families. Judging by the fact both of the boys were dressed in robes already and seemed quite at home in them, Lily guessed they looked the part of-what was the word Sev had used?- _purebloods._ Sev caught Lily's eyes and shook his head derisively. It seemed Sev thought they were being a bit ridiculous. Lily quite agreed with him. The first boy, however, did not.

"Got a problem with that?" Now the messy hair boy was really reminding Lily of the bullies in her grade school class. They left her well enough alone, but the way they went after some of the other kids, it made Lily's blood boil.

"No" said Sev and his face turned to a sneer. Lily had to hand it to him. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-" Lily was about to let out a laugh when the lazy voice of the second boy interrupted her.

"And where do you hope to go, seeing as your neither?" The compartment roared with laughter. Lily felt her face flush. _Bullies, the both of them._

She stood up, rather more dramatically than she had intended to, and brushed off her now obvious muggle clothing. She stuck her nose in the air they way Petunia did when she was making a point.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment." She heard the two boys oohing and aaahing as she left, as if she had given Sev a big wet kiss on the cheek. One of the boys called Sev "Snivellus" as they exited the compartment. Lily didn't even know what that meant, it was just one of those nonsensical but awful names boys like them could come up with. And it would stick, Lily could tell. Honestly, she thought bullies were bullies were bullies, same as in the Muggle world.

* * *

A little later on, Severus and Lily had found a privacy by way of a small supplies closet near the back of the train. They were each eating a chocolate frog, which Lily had purchased as they passed a cheery woman pushing a cart full of sweets. She didn't know the names of any of them, but in her experience chocolate could always improve a situation.

"So," she said through a mouth full of chocolate, while sitting in pitch-black on an upside down mop bucket "Why do you want to be in Slyth... Slytherin? You never told me."

"Well" said Sev, swallowing his chocolate "My mum told me stories about her parents , my grandparents. They were both in Slytherin. My grandfather, he's dead now, but I remember him from when I was much younger. He was very powerful. He used to make up his own spells and everything. He knew every type of magic there was to know, even Dark magic," Sev let the last words hang in darkness and Lily shuddered involuntarily "and how to block it of course" He added as an afterthought.

"He wrote a book too called the _Complexity of Curses_ . That's where I've found out about most of his spells"

"You've read it?"

"Cover to cover. It's the only copy though, the one I've got. He never got it published...he didn't have the money" Sev's voice dropped slightly and Lily knew even in the dark he was avoiding her gaze, as he usually did when their talk turned to anything about money. The Evans were certainly not wealthy by any means, even putting them in middle class seemed complimentary, but compared to Sev's family they were swimming in money.

"What about your mum? She went to Hogwarts, right? What house was she in?" Lily had never met Mrs. Snape, but was always a bit curious about her.

"Ravenclaw." Sev said blankly "But that's because she didn't realize all that she could do. With magic that is."

"Is Ravenclaw bad to be in?" Lily felt her stomach tighten as she realized she would be sorted in just a few hours.

"No, none of the houses are bad" said Sev calmly "Slytherin gets a bad reputation, as we saw, but most wizards from there end up really skilled like my grandfather, and even Merlin himself. Hufflepuff I don't know much about but it seems passable. Gryffindor... is fine but you get a lot of idiots like them" Lily saw the dim outline, as Sev thrusted his head toward the front of the train. She laughed.

"They really were idiots, weren't they?" She didn't even have to have the lights on to know that Sev was smiling again.

* * *

In a just an hour, the train had slowed considerably and the bustle in the hallway alerted Severus and Lily that they were close to arrival. Lily made Sev stand outside the closet while she changed into her robes. When she opened the door to bring him back in he was standing at one of the windows between carts peering through the darkness.

"We're so close, you can even see the castle, come look." Lily stood on her tip toes and cupped her hands around her eyes to squint through the foggy window. It was dark, well into the evening hours, but sure enough, Lily could see the dim outline of a massive castle, erupting out of the sloping hills of its surrounding.

"Oh Sev, its perfect! It really is!"The faint silhouette she could make out through the dirty window was everything Lily had dreamed. It was a fairy tale castle.

Everything was real, she felt her stomach swoosh. It was all happening.

She was in a world of magic and leaving the Muggle world, filled with loud cars, tacky clothing and Petunia. Everything was behind her. She was entering a fairy tale, and somewhere deep inside her she couldn't shake the feeling that she was at the center of it all.


	2. Enter House of Mckinnon

Lily stood in the massive stone atrium shivering cold and feeling as if she was in the middle of a long-winded dream.

In the drizzling evening rain and cool wind, she had just rowed across a large and ominously dark lake, with Sev and two other boys in a rather rickety row boat. Before they even got to the boats however, they were led down a narrow path from the train station by someone named Hagrid, a man so large Lily worried he was going to inadvertently step on few of the smaller students as he clomped his way down to the lake with a lantern.

The other two boys in her boat didn't say much: one picked his nose the entire time and the other looked a bit seasick. So Sev and Lily kept on a running conversation about how they imagined they were to be sorted.

Severus didn't know exactly how Hogwarts did it, since apparently it was a tradition to keep it a secret from those not yet attending Hogwarts. His mum had let some hints slip though and he knew it had something to do with an old hat. This had done nothing to ease Lily's confusion.

The first years were now standing in a huge atrium with buttresses so high Lily couldn't even see them clearly. It was exactly like a medieval entrance hall: there were suits or armor at the four corners of the room and torches illuminating the stone walls. There was a huge marble staircase that glimmered in the light.

It was clear, as the group of first years stood awkwardly, nervously shivering and whispering, that they were waiting for someone or for something to tell them what to do. Or perhaps to kick them out.

She checked her reflection quickly in a polished suit of armor. A pale girl with dark red hair, damp and wavy at the ends, and spooky bottle-green eyes stared back her.

"OY!" the suit of armor said gruffly. Lily nearly screamed but covered her mouth in time. It clanged loudly as it walked away from her in annoyance, muttering about not being polished all day in ungodly places to be used as a lowly mirror.

She turned to Sev in horror worried she had done something wrong. He smiled and almost laughing whispered, "It's Hogwarts, everything here is alive. It's all magic"

Just then a pair of wooden doors opened and a stately looking woman with spectacles and black hair in a taught bun stepped inside. She was not smiling as she let her eyes fall each and every first year. She looked very well put together, in dark red robes and a pointed hat. She sighed as if she was hoping for a better lot, but would have to settle with the one she got.

"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." she said, still not smiling. "I do hope you got across the lake without getting too wet, although it looks like some of you were not so lucky." She eyed Lily's hair and the bottom of Sev's sleeves that were dripping water. "In a few minutes I will lead you inside the Great Hall and the Sorting Ceremony will begin. I am Professor McGonagall, deputy Headmistress and Head of the Transfiguration Department. I look forward to teaching _some_ of you-" she glared at a groups of boys, including the two Lily had interacted with earlier, who were whispering loudly "-in my lessons on Monday. Please be on your best behavior for the evening. It is your first impression for the entire staff of Hogwarts." She raised her eyebrows as if anyone dared to think she was making a funny joke. Lily stood up straighter.

The massive oak doors opened with a load creak, and revealed the most beautiful dining hall Lily had ever seen in her life. Huge, shiny, gold tables stretched wall to wall. The ceiling was sparkling with stars and deep blue skies. It seem to be enchanted to look like the drizzling evening outside. Elaborate wood decor lined the walls that were partially covered by colorful banners of the four houses.

The first years filed in, some in awe like Lily, some trembling, and some laughing- _laughing?_ -Lily had to double check but yes the two dark haired boys were both sharing a loud laugh and walking into the magnificent hall as if it were just a regular kitchen pantry.

The first years assembled into a line. She watched with petrified curiosity as McGonagall dragged a three legged stool and placed a rather dirty looking hat on it.

There was a resounding silence as the entire hall stared at the hat and waited. Lily felt her stomach drop _. It was all happening_.

* * *

A few minutes later Lily was thoroughly confused. The hat had performed a lively little song about the four houses. She assumed it was meant to be entertainment for the majority of students but for someone like her, who didn't know an ounce about the differences between houses, it wasn't very helpful in pointing out which one she should want to be in.

There were four friends, all with ridiculous names, who had founded Hogwarts and each of them had a house named after them. That much Lily had got from the song. And then it became sort of murky.

It seemed each of the houses stood for something different. But what was better wit or loyalty? And what about between greatness or braveness? What was the difference? They were both just words with vague meanings. And who decided where a person ought to be the hat or the person wearing it? The Slytherin fellow did seem a bit dodgy in the song. But like Sev had said, they got a bad reputation and Lily had always rooted for the underdog. The Godric guy certainly came off like a bit like a smarmy idiot.

Lily sighed and looked over to Sev, who looked completely unfazed. He met her stare, and gave her a small smile that Lily knew to mean _Stop worrying_.

Well, if her one and only friend was going to be in Slytherin, she supposed it was better to be in a house with a friend.

"BLACK, SIRIUS!" the hat suddenly shouted loudly, and Lily nearly jumped a foot in the air.

The boy from the train, the one with the silky hair and long lashes, sauntered- yes, that most undoubtedly a saunter- up to the stool. He plopped down and threw the hat on, as if he had done this everyday of his life. Lily felt her lip curl in disgust, thinking about what he had called Sev on the train.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted after about fifteen seconds.

 _Well that's what he wanted_ thought Lily. Or was that the other one, she couldn't remember. Didn't this one have family in Slytherin? She glanced in interest at the Slytherin table. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but many people at the table were muttering and some looked shocked, while others looked baffled. A pretty blonde girl who was sitting at the end of the table, was shaking her head in disbelief, and following the Black boy with her eyes, as if she wanted him to come closer to the Slytherin table so she could berate him.

Black's sorting set such a buzz amidst the Slytherin table that Lily didn't even notice the sorting of the four people after. She was barely aware of the nose-picker becoming a Ravenclaw, and then-

"EVANS, LILY"

Shaking slightly, Lily made her way to the stool and pulled the floppy hat so it fell over her ears.

"Hmm..what do we have here? So much emotion for one little girl, and all at once too."

 _It's reading my mind._ It was all she could do to keep from sprinting up from the stool and throwing the hat on the floor, Instead the took a deep breath, so what the hat was magical, she knew that already, so what if it was also reading her thoughts.

 _Just put me in Slytherin, and be done with it already._

"Slytherin!?" the hat seemed to choke, though on what or through what orifice, Lily was unsure. "Little Evans, Slytherin is the last place…. I mean... well let's see there's some ambition, but it's not a lot and its not driving you. You do think too highly of yourself, but don't seem to crave greatness…no, no its all wrong. You feed on right and wrong. You crave the thrill of good fight. All point to a heart of a -

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily couldn't believe it. It had to have only been ten seconds. She had specifically asked that no-good, rather rude piece of fabric for Slytherin. Everything was happening, sure, but too fast.

She stumbled off the stool and made her way to the Gryffindor table, with that awful Black. She gave what she hoped was a compensatory smile to Sev. _I tried, I really did._

As she approached, Black turned to her and scooted over on the gold bench to make room for her. He even flashed her a friendly smile. As if everything on the train had not even happened. Or perhaps he didn't even remember.

Lily gawked in disbelief. She turned her nose in the air and went to sit on the other end of the bench, by herself. She saw Black give a shrug and turn to a second year to resume his conversation.

She realized as she took her seat that she was in a bit of situation sitting all by herself on this end of the table. There was no one to talk to. She tried to make eyes at a group of girls sitting a couple of seats away but they were too busy chatting over one girl's new perm.

As the sorting continued, she allowed her attention to drift to the High Table where the teachers were sitting. She recognized Professor Dumbledore, with his long white beard and half-moon glasses sitting right in the center. She smiled and gave him a little wave, but he seemed to be in deep conversation with another teacher, who must have been some kind of dwarf as she could barely see the top of his head. There was a man who resembled some type of walrus, he was talking to Professor McGonagall. There was also a gruff looking man with an eye patch who appeared to be missing three out of four of his limbs.

Lily was busy looking at all of the interesting teachers, she jumped when she realized "Lupin, Remus" had just become another Gryffindor.

 _Too late_ thought Lily as a boy with blondish-brown hair had already found a seat next to Black.

 _Okay, pay attention,_ she told herself. She didn't want to miss "Snape, Severus"

"MACDONALD, MARY" became another Gryffindor, and a pleasantly round girl with long brown hair chose a seat halfway between the Lupin boy and Lily. She looked around the room smiling, at everyone and no one at the same time, as if she couldn't believe her good fortune.

 _Make the next Gryffindor come sit next to you,_ Lily told herself, hopefully it would be Sev. Her mother had always stressed that first impressions were very important and right now Lily was making a stellar impression as a grade-A loner.

"MCKINNON, MARLENE"

Lily had barely looked up at the hat to see who it was before the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

A girl, only a few inches taller than Lily, who had impeccably straight and shiny blonde hair made her way to the Gryffindor table. There was something in the way she walked, with her nose a bit higher in the air, that made it seem like she was someone's boss, coming to tell them off.

 _Well here goes nothing_ thought Lily, and she waved brightly at the girl.

"There's room over here!" she pointed to empty seat beside her. Marlene paused for a second and seemed to be doing an invisible math problem in her head as she glanced between Black's group of first years and Lily.

Finally, she gave Lily a small smile, and took the seat next to her.

"Hello, I'm Marlene Mckinnon. Pleasure to meet you." she said quite briskly, with the smallest smile, so small that none of her teeth showed. It was a bit what Lily imagined a job interview would feel like. The girl was so composed and articulate, but at the same time, looked like she was expecting something from Lily. Lily felt as if she should hand her a report.

 _Your name you dunderhead she wants your name._

"Hi, Marlene, I'm Lily!"

"Lily what?" Marlene interjected sharply as she examined her nails.

"Lily Evans"

"Oh yes I remember hearing your name before. Are you a half-blood or muggle-born?"

Lily felt somewhat taken aback by the question, was this an acceptable question, like where do you live, what's your favorite color? Lily had so much to learn, but she still felt slightly affronted by her question.

"Well, I'm muggle-born actually -"

"Lovely." quipped Marlene still looking at her nails.

"But how did you know I'm not a Pureblood?" It was Marlene's turn to look surprised as she looked up from her nails, and stared at Lily.

"I'm a McKinnon. I'm a pureblood. I know the names of all the pureblood families. There's no Evans family, at least not in Britain. Maybe in America, but you're definitely British." She said the last part as if there was so much more she could tell about Lily just from meeting her once. _You're definitely British_ was simply the tip of the iceberg.

Lily thought she was being rather judgmental. Little did Marlene know that Lily was well-versed in snootiness, having been raised with the original, the one and only, Miss Tuney Evans.

"Well, Marlene," Lily began, looking her right in the eyes. "I thought there was nothing wrong with being muggle-born. In fact, Professor Albus Dumbledore, you know the headmaster of Hogwarts, he told me that muggle-borns contribute more to the progress of the entire magical world than any other group of witch and wizards " She picked off nonexistent lint off of her new robes and stuck her nose in the air.

When she glanced down, Marlene was staring at her as if she had just said the most stupid thing in the world, as if she had just attempted to tell her the world was indeed flat as a sheet of paper.

"Of course, there's nothing wrong with being muggleborn. You're not getting it, are you? I'm a Mc-Kin-non " she said the name slowly this time as if Lily was hard of hearing. "Dumbledore comes to our Christmas party every year! The McKinnon's have intermarried with muggles- well muggles with certain social standing of course." she smiled disingenuously at Lily as if she were explaining simple math to a child who should have already learned it by now. "It's why we don't look as jacked up as some of those old Slytherin families that marry their cousins. My grandfather, Memphis McKinnon introduced the Muggleborn protection act of 1943, for Merlin's sake."

"Well they sound like a lovely family. I'm sure your Christmas party is a blast. Tell me, do you sing carols about all of the dates for the McKinnon legislature, or just the recent ones?" Lily simpered back. She wasn't even sure she had used the word _legislature_ correctly, but she was not here for a history session on the Mckinnon family, before her actual classes had even begun.

Her and Marlene stared at each other both with fake smiles on their faces.

While they had been talking, "Meadows,Dorcas" had become another Gryffindor, as had Pettigrew, Peter, the nice boy from the train, though he had chosen a seat with the other boys.

"POTTER, JAMES!"

Lily and Marlene both looked up in interest as the boy, the one with black tousled hair and cocky attitude, from the train, marched up to the hat, grinning at the hundreds of people watching him. Unlike, Black who had seemed unperturbed by the attention, Potter seemed to love it. Something told Lily, that both of the boys were accustomed to attention.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat, almost as soon as it had touched his head.

He made his way toward the table, nodding at Black. Lily rolled her eyes, how was she in the same house as the two bullies from the train, and this little judgmental, historically informed monster.

"He's a Potter of course" Marlene said to Lily as Marlene clapped with everyone else at Potter's sorting. She continued on as if Lily had expressed interest in what she was saying. "Everybody knows the Potters have a huge legacy, and influence on the Ministry. The Potters and McKinnons are very close, of course"

 _Of course_ , thought Lily as Marlene gave Potter a cheery wave as he passed by. Something about the way Potter sauntered, the way he looked so well cared for, with perfectly straight teeth as he flashed a grin towards Marlene, and the way his robes looked brand new and perfectly fitted, said something very clear to Lily. She turned to Marlene.

"Let me guess, they're loaded."

"The Potters do have a massive fortune, yes. But its rude to ask." she said with a fleeting glance at Lily. She lowered her voice, and Lily could tell she couldn't help herself but give Lily a bit of gossip, even though Lily had clearly insulted her moments before. "But you should know that they fill two whole vaults at Gringotts Bank. And those vaults can magically expand. To a point."

"And how many vaults do the McKinnons have?" Lily couldn't help herself, the girl was being so insufferable already. Marlene took a sharp inhale, and gave Lily a dirty look, but then she went right back to her fake smile.

"Everybody knows the McKinnons do just fine. We have a rich history." She adjusted her robes and Lily saw her straighten her large pearl earrings that looked quite expensive. More expensive than Lily's parent could afford. Marlene prattled on.

"Mckinnons are one of the good Wizarding families and everyone respects them. Everybody knows the Potters, the Abbotts, the Bones- without these powerful families, the Wizarding World would have gone to dirt ages ago, only marrying other purebloods. The Weasleys too-though they're _poor_ " she added as if disclosing a particularly gross disease.

"SNAPE, SEVERUS!"

Glad for the distraction, Lily stood up her in seat to watch as Sev made his way toward the stool, stumbling and not meeting anyone's eye. She gave him a small wave, though he never looked up.

"Who are you waving at?" Marlene asked nosily. _None of your business,_ Lily wanted to say.

"Sev, he's my friend, he lives by me."

Marlene stood up in her seat as well to gander a look at Severus. Her expression on her face made it seem as if she was looking at a particularly disgusting type of cockroach, as Sev pulled the sorting hat over his stringy chin length chair.

"Snape? I've never heard of them. What is he, another muggle-born?"

"No he's half-blood!" said Lily cheerfully happy to know something Marlene didn't. "His mum's name was Prince, maybe you know that name?"

Marlene looked as if she was racking her brain, but shook her head.

"Nope, don't know that one. Must not be an important family"

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted.

Lily's stomach dropped, and she even forgot what retort she had been about to say in regards to Marlene's thinly veiled insult of Snape's family.

 _Why couldn't they have been in the same house?_ Should she have tried harder to be in Slytherin? Begged, perhaps? Was it too late to change? This Gryffindor lot seemed like a bust.

"I was hoping he'd be in Gryffindor" muttered Lily, looking down at her shoes. Marlene gave her an almost pitying look, she stood up again to get another look at Sev.

"And he's your friend?" she asked, almost in disbelief. Lily nodded mutely. "Well he looks quite pleased to be in Slytherin, to be honest. He's even shaking hands with Lucius Malfoy-that's another pureblood family." she added for Lily's education.

"Are there a lot of Purebloods in Slytherin?" asked Lily thinking of Black's family, how he had said they were all Slytherins.

"Well yes" said Marlene and for once she looked slightly sincere. "And especially lately, there have been. Mum says its becoming cult like. Some of those old Slytherin-toting families, you know the ugly ones I was talking about earlier? They are just awful. My parents don't stand for any of their rubbish." She sighed and looked at Lily again with pity in her eyes, Lily was starting to become annoyed again.

As Lily stood up to look at Sev again, hoping he was sitting next to friendly people, Marlene whispered in her ear.

" _They really hate Muggle-borns_ "

Perhaps it was Marlene's icy whisper, but Lily felt a flash fear pierce her like an ice pick. Something in that whisper was loaded with history.

"Will Sev be ok? I mean he's a half-blood, his mum's a witch."

Marlene stared back at Lily for a long time, judgement, pity, and disappointment all floated through Marlene's blue eyes.

"I don't know" she answered honestly "But I will say this, Lily, the only thing worse than a Slytherin form an old pureblood family, is a Slytherin who's a nobody." She glanced over to where Sev was sitting as he stared down at his torn up leather shoes, to make sure Lily knew he she was talking about.

* * *

"I have just few words now that we are all fed and watered" Albus Dumbledore was standing up at the staff table, beaming down at the students.

Lily was beaming right back at him. He was like what she imagined her paternal grandfather to be like. Paternal, because she actually knew her maternal grandfather and he was grumpy, fat, and smoked cigarettes all day while yelling at the television.

They had just finished a delicious, self-refilling, meal. She and Marlene had mostly sat and ate quietly, but during the meal a few of older girls close by made introductions. One of the girls, the one with the rather awful perm, seemed more nice than the others, and was interested in hearing all about Lily and Marlene's lives before Hogwarts.

Her name was Bertha Jorkins, and she was a fifth year and a prefect. That was pretty much the climax of the meal, besides the delicious Treacle Tart Lily had for dessert.

"I am very happy to be all your Headmaster again for another year. I would like to thank you all for not kicking me out last year, my first year on the job and following the illustrious footsteps of Professor Dippet. We at Hogwarts know there's learning curve for everything, I should know- I still have yet to master the Viennese Waltz that I've been trying to learn for decades."

There were a couple of nervous laughs.

"My advice to this year's batch of first years, is to take everything in stride, and do not feel discouraged. Learning is part of the journey." he cleared his throat. "I also want to stress that Hogwarts is a school open to _all,_ no matter the places or families students came from" Lily swore he gave a fleeting glance towards the Slytherin table. "Anyone who acts like Hogwarts is not an inclusive school for all, will be punished appropriately and _most_ severely." His blue eyes flashed dangerously, and Lily felt scared of him for a brief moment. The Great Hall was so quiet they could hear the dripping of rain drops outside.

He cleared his throat again and smiled cheerfully. Many people looked thrown off. "First years should also note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. And our caretaker Mr. Filch, would like to remind all of our students that there is to be no magic used in the corridors between classes. Along with: no student should be out of bed past ten on weeknights and eleven on weeknights. Along with- well a whole a bunch of other rules that he likes to enforce, but I'll leave you those to figure out. As I said there's a learning curve to everything!" He winked at the students.

"I would also like to take this time to announce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, Professor Lawrence. He has been so kind to accept the position after Professor's Hassett's unfortunately public skirmish last year with the Merman that turned into quite the duel. I'm sure most of you remember that day. For all who are interested he has regained back the control of his legs, and is no longer sporting fins. He is recovering quite nicely."

Lily looked around in disbelief, surely he was joking? But the older students seemed merely to nod. Lily stretched her neck to get a look at the new Professor. He was stocky with blonde hair. He reminded her of one of her old gym teachers in grade school. As Lily watched Lawrence pick pieces of meat out from his teeth and jiggle his right leg restlessly, she thought he would look right at home in a bright red tracksuit.

"And now, bedtime! Off you trot!"

She and Marlene followed Bertha the prefect out of the Great Hall. On their way they fell into step with one of the other first year girls, Mary MacDonald, the smiley girl Lily had seen earlier.

"You must be Mary!" Lily said brightly, meeting the girl's brown eyes. "I'm Lily, another first year and this is-"

"I'm Marlene!" interrupted Marlene in an even brighter tone than Lily's. "Now, you must be Muggle-born. I was just telling Lily here all of the important things my family has done for Muggle-borns."

 _Like hell you just were_! Lily thought _you were scowling at Bertha's perm job_. Why was Marlene being so much nicer to this Muggle-born than she was to Lily?

" It's so brave of you to come here without knowing anything or anyone at all. But don't worry!" she gave Mary a sickly sweet smile "You'll catch on so fast!"

"I'm muggle-born too, you see." Lily explained and she tried to take out the edge in her voice from being interrupted by Marlene.

Mary who had literally been flashing a smile at every sentence each of the girls spoke, looked to Lily and flashed another genuine smile.

"Excellent! I was hoping to find someone like me. I really don't know anything about-"

"You know what's strange, Mary?" Marlene interrupted again, with the same fake smile.

Mary, who seemed to not mind being interrupted, or perhaps she wasn't sharp enough to realize she had just been cut off, gave Marlene another genuine smile and shook her head.

"How similar our names are! Mary McDonald and Marlene Mckinnon?"

 _Oh come on,_ thought Lily. What was Marlene's deal? The answer though Lily knew, as she watched two girls laugh over their stupid names. It was the same reason Lily was trying so hard. She needed a friend here. And it was becoming clearer by the second that Mary was falling right in line with Marlene's grand plan. Lily resisted the urge to scowl.

* * *

All was not lost though, as they made their way through hidden staircases and hallways with doors that changed places, Mary came up behind Lily and whispered in the manner of one prisoner whispering to another

"So..who's your favorite Beatle?"

Lily laughed loudly. It did seem taboo to be talking about The Beatles in such a medieval magical castle. They seemed worlds apart.

"Well I tell people it's George, but really if I'm being honest" she dropped her voice to a whisper "It's John."

Mary smiled brilliantly,

"Me too! Oh man-"

"Well mine's Ringo Starr" A nonchalant voice from behind interrupted them.

Sirius Black was standing on the step below them.

Lily glared at him.

"What? It is. He's the drummer, isn't he? And I love to drum" He kept his eyes on Lily's as he drummed his hands on the stone wall in some tribal percussive beat.

Mary began to laugh.

"Ringo Starr? What? That's your favorite Beatle? Out of all of them-"

"He's doesn't know them. He's making fun of us, Mary" said Lily still glaring at Black.

"Then how did he know-"

"It doesn't matter" Lily cut her off quickly, not wanting to be proven wrong in front of Black and now Potter, who had come up behind Black.

Potter had a thoroughly perplexed expression on his face as if he were trying to figure out how a bunch of insects could have such interesting names and apparently play the drums.

Lily made to turn around and lead Mary ahead of the boys, when Potter dropped his confusion.

"So I saw your friend landed himself in Slytherin, I feel bad for the kid who was sorted after him, that hat was probably coated in grease. Were you sad that he's there without you?"

"Oh yes" answered Black, who still had not taken his eyes off of Lily. "She was practically crying into her handkerchief. She even sat all the way in the corner by herself to save a seat for him" He frowned at Lily as if she were a toddler.

Lily felt as if smoke was going to pour out of her ears, she so so angry. Either that, or she was going to start to cry again as her bottom lip gave dangerous tremble.

James laughed. Mary, who seemed to completely misread the situation, laughed too but said sweetly

"Aw, she wasn't that sad, you two! Lily you can always see your friend during-"

"Oh I'm sure she can't wait to see her friend again. Of course she'll probably be able to smell his slime him first."

"I'm wondering, Sirius Black, what time does evening post come?"

A sharp voice cut into their conversation from the darkness behind them. Marlene Mckinnon had caught up with the small group.

Black gave Marlene a disdainful glance up and down, but he also seemed to be as genuinely confused as the rest of the group.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm wondering what time evening post comes, Black? So I know what time to expect the Howler your mother sent for not being sorted into Slytherin. I wouldn't miss it for the world, you see. Everybody knows the Blacks have been Slytherin snakes since Hogwarts was founded. Of course, there's always the chance your cousin already told her as it happened and there's a nice red howler sitting on your bed already. In that case" she dropped her brusque voice to simpering sweet "You'll have to just tell me what it says."

To his credit, Black gave her a very convincing look of pure disgust. But, he also did not have retort. Ergo, it was an automatic victory for Marlene. Lily was glad to see many of the same unspoken rules of the school playground transferred without error to the magical world.

Potter looked sympathetically at Black. Lily had no idea what a Howler was or what morning post consisted of, but she knew Black had just been had.

"Come on, girls" Marlene said in a very bossy tone.

Lily reluctantly made her was up the stone stair case that was precariously turning clockwise. Here she was, now an unwilling but indebted minion of Marlene McKinnon's. Before they rounded the curve of the stair case, Marlene turned around and said sweetly,

"Oh and James, I hope you are coming to our Christmas party again this year. My grandmother just loves you!"

Lily scowled yet again.


	3. Mrs Skower's All Purpose Magical Mess

Disclaimer: JKR owns everything.

* * *

The first couple of days at Hogwarts flew by for Lily. Quite literally if you included the first year's first flying lesson. The days were a confusing whirl of first lessons, getting lost in the corridors, homework assignments, getting lost in the corridors, meeting other students, and getting lost in the corridors.

By Friday morning , Lily was ready for her first week of magic lessons to come to a close. It turned out that learning magic was hard, almost as hard as it was for Lily to maneuver her broomstick during her flying lesson. It seemed to not entirely trust her and kept resisting turning in the direction. She had to steer it forcefully by leaning her entire body to the side of the broom so the her head and body were almost parallel to the ground. And still the broom would only turn about quarter of a turn. It also dipped down to the ground frequently on its own accord as if politely suggesting she get off.

Her experience was better than Peter's whose broom had thrown him off completely and Mary's whose would only hover a few feet off the ground and then began to spin like compass. James Potter, who had flown all of his life, was flying in figure eights around them all until Madame Hooch barked at him to stop showing off and give Stebbins back his hat.

On her first day of transfiguration, she failed to turn her matchstick into anything closely resembling a needle. If anything, it changed into something way more like a matchstick just out of spite and even began to smell of lit tinder. It didn't help that Potter and Black had two perfectly shiny sewing needles, and were frolicking around the room sticking people in the back of the neck when McGonagall wasn't looking.

She thought that maybe she'd be decent at charms, since she had managed to charm flowers back in Cokeworth, but Flitwick didn't have them practicing with real spells yet. That was for today.

In Defense against the Dark Arts, they also hadn't used wands yet. Professor Lawrence was teaching them proper positioning first. Like a true gym teacher. Their first lesson involved them squatting in an _en_ _garde_ position and then changing to an attack position and then switching to the proper shield position. By the end of the lesson, everyone was sweaty, grumpy and bruised. A majority of students ended up on the floor after tripping over their own feet switching from the counter-jinx crouch to the curse dodger-twirl, including Lily.

"He is just trying to humiliate us!" said an outraged Marlene as she brushed off her robes, having also ended up in the tangle of bodies on the floor. Marlene had conveniently suffered a quick illness during their first flying lesson, and was most unfortunately unable to attend that first round of humiliation, as she was safely tucked away in the infirmary. She had recovered immediately after.

Herbology was alright, Lily knew a lot about plants from her Dad being a gardener, and even though the species were different the concepts were the same. It was a bit of a dull subject to try and show off any skill in. Professor Sprout had them all plant their own honking daffodil sprouts and while Lily's sat a wee bit straighter and slightly greener than others, no one seemed to notice.

Lily had her first Potion lesson this afternoon. She was looking forward to it if only for the fact that it was with the Slytherins and would be the first time all week to talk to Sev. She had seen him fleetingly from across the Great Hall, but all she could do was wave. There was never time to go over to talk, as Lily had to leave at least twenty minutes early for whatever class she had. She could expect to get a lost at least three times on her way.

* * *

Lily was awake quite early on Friday, before all of her roommates. She peaked out the window to see a sky of dazzling sunlight. The dorms at Hogwarts were really quite nice. She had been immediately impressed by the luxurious four-poster beds and red velvet curtains. There was even a fireplace in the corner of the room, and small mahogany wardrobe for each of the girls to store their trunks in.

As for her roommates-well Lily hadn't quite come to a full opinion on them yet.

There was Marlene, of course, who had remained just as self-centered and bossy as that first day. She had decorated her wardrobe with an immaculate emblem of the Mckinnon family crest, and a tastefully arranged red rose.

Mary, who still had smiles for everyone, seemed to either enjoy or be blissfully ignorant of her full time position as Marlene's shadow, much to Lily's disappointment. She had decorated her wardrobe with a taped up picture of the Beatles, and a few muggle photographs of her family.

Lily had had high hopes for Dorcas Meadowes, thinking perhaps this was the best friend she was looking for. Dorcas was a small girl, even smaller than Lily, with thick glasses that were much too large for her face. She had light brown skin and wore her kinky dark hair in two massive poofs on either side of her head so that her tiny body seemed to be in a triangle of equilibrium with the two buns pulling her side to side and her humongous glasses pulling her forward. All of that was perfectly fine, but she seemed for all intents and purposes to be a mute. She had spent the entire time in the other girls company with her nose buried in a book, and only briefly nodded in response to questions, including when Marlene asked her if her father was Kimbo Meadows, the ambassador from Cameroon who worked at the Ministry of Magic. A question Lily was sure Marlene had already knew the answer to. Dorcas's wardrobe was hidden behind stacks and stacks of books.

On her own wardrobe, Lily had only put up a nameplate that Petunia had made her when they were younger with lilies and petunias adorning the name Lily A. Evans.

The first class of their day was charms, followed by a double potions session in the dungeons.

"Wingardium Levisoa" chanted Lily and she almost gave squeal of glee as she saw her soft white feather tremble a few centimeters off the table. Looking around the room to see if Professor Flitwick had caught that, she saw two feather making graceful spirals on the ceiling of the very tall room. Two guesses as to who those feathers belonged to.

She sat back in her chair her moment of accomplishment gone.

"You can't compare yourself to James" said Marlene, matter-of-factly. She was sitting next to Lily, and trying to control her own feather which was bouncing up and down on her desk like a rubber ball.

"His parents started teaching him magic ages ago. You just can't compete with that sort of training. And he's quite naturally talented too." Lily scowled.

"What about Black? His feather's up there too"

"Well he's obviously cheating" Marlene said briskly. Lily smiled.

"So Black's really from one of those inbred pureblood families, huh?" she asked while trying to get her feather a few more healthy centimeters off the desk.

"The very worst. But everyone treats the Blacks like royalty. It's not fair." she said, with tone of jealousy in her voice. "Mum says times are changing though, and more people are losing respect for families like that."

Lily glanced over at Black who was a few desks away laughing as Potter made two feathers float up behind Flitwick like angel wings.

"It's just... he doesn't look very inbred. I mean, he's not ugly at all, is he?"

Marlene fixed Lily with a piercing stare, but then turned and looked around the room as if making sure no one was listening.

"Well, everybody knows that these families like the Blacks have access to things that good resepectable families do not" She stood up straighter in her seat , making it very clear that the Mckinnons were one of said respectable families. "For example, there's a legend that veela's blood- that's a magical creature by the way- makes people better looking if they drink it. I wouldn't be surprised if people like him drank it." She looked suspiciously towards Black as if expecting him to have red blood dripping out of his mouth.

"Come off it," said Mary turning around in her seat and grinning. "You think Black's going around drinking goblets of blood?"

"How would he even have access to a veela or whatever its called? Are they dangerous?" Lily assumed most magical creatures had some sort of danger associated with them, otherwise they'd just be normal muggle animals.

"I think so, apparently one made my uncle jump into a pond in the middle of January. Anyway, the Blacks have all sorts of dark and dangerous things at their house. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a veela too."

"Where would they keep it? Tied up someplace?"

"Yes, in their basement." answered Marlene confidently.

"Do they feed it? What do they do if they go on vacation?"

"They..er.. they don't go on vacation. And they feed it - how would I know- whatever it is those things eat." Lily had no idea what a veela was, and it was becoming increasingly clear that Marlene did not either.

"Veela's blood only works like that if its given willingly" a new voice had interjected into their conversation. Lily was taken aback to see the tiny Dorcas Meadows peering at them through her thick glasses.

"Well I never said they took it forcefully, did I?"

"So you're telling me this veela willingly lives with the Black family, a family not really known for their kindness, and and volunteers for them to slice her open every night? For generations?" Dorcas asked skeptically

Marlene flushed pink and glared at her. She was obviously used to being taken seriously. It seemed evident to Lily that Marlene was attempting to spread a poorly thought out rumor. The process was clearly not going as planned.

"It doesn't matter how he looks anyway! He's not even good looking to me, but that's not the point. His family is evil! They would bleed out a poor veela, even if they _don't_ , they still _would_ " she raised her eyebrows dramatically. Lily was confused.

"Do they sell veela's blood?" asked Mary, distractedly. "It sounds like something my mum might like..." Lily giggled but Marlene gave an irritated sigh.

"Look, you don't have to believe me that but you guys don't know how bad families like that are. You don't understand, I'm only trying to help the lot of you!" she seemed intent on saying something to make Mary and Lily stop laughing. "There's this whole new movement now against people like you two, you know, muggle-borns and families like the Blacks are all for it."

Lily and Mary fell quiet.

"It's not a movement, it's a bunch of people following one guy" Dorcas spoke up again. "and she's right, it's getting bad, Dad says"

"Well who's the guy?" asked Lily, figuring it was probably a politician of sorts.

Marlene and Dorcas exchanged very dark glances with each other, it seemed like the conversation had taken a chilly turn.

"He doesn't have a name" Marlene answered quickly.

"Everyone has a -" began Mary.

"He just doesn't, okay?" Marlene said sharply.

Lily pondered this for a moment.

"Well, what does he think about muggle-borns anyway? Like we should learn more magic before coming to school?" Lily might have to agree with him on that one.

Marlene and Dorcas again exchanged dark glances. Finally, Marlene answered her.

"No. He thinks you shouldn't exist."

* * *

Despite the rather unpleasant conversation, charms ended on an uplifting note as Lily succeeded in elevating her feather a full foot off the desk .

Of course, Flitwick had also assigned an essay due Monday because no one could answer his question about the importance of pronunciation in the levitation spell.

"And it's a whole three feet, he wants" groaned Dorcas, as she and Lily made their way back to Great Hall for lunch. Mary and Marlene had run up to the dorm to drop off their things.

When they first met, Lily had assumed Dorcas was a genius, given the fact she was always reading a book. However, when Lily had mentioned this to her a few days back, Dorcas gave her morose look and silently showed Lily what she was reading. It was a comic book with a picture of disproportionate man flying through an air holding a toilet plunger. He grinned and waved at Lily.

"Adventures of Martin the Mad Muggle, Volume XXXIII, Revenge of the Vacuum." It was clear whoever wrote and illustrated the book had no idea what the function of vacuum cleaner was, as it was drawn menacingly with red eyes and emitting swirls of black smoke.

She had other books too, in the dorm, but none that seemed to apply to their lessons. For example, one was entitled Loony Nonby v.s. Cornish Pixie. They all seemed to be of a comic book variety.

The two girls sat down for lunch, and Lily grabbed a stoat sandwich, while Dorcas opened her comic book and read silently. So much for new conversations.

Lily had just finished her sandwich, and was about to suggest to Dorcas that they head down to Potions, when she looked up to find Marlene and Mary staring down at her with terrified expressions.

"Lily, we need to show you something. It's back in the dorm" Mary began in gentle voice.

"We have potion's in ten minutes, can it wait-"

"No" interjected Marlene "Lily, you're coming with us. It's bad, really bad."

Lily silently got up from the bench and was surprised to see Dorcas hurrying after her.

"I'm curious" she whispered.

Lily followed them up the spiral staircase that led to the girls dormitories and into their own dorm. She gasped as she walked in.

On one of the wardrobes, HER wardrobe to be exact, were slanted blood red letters that red clearly

 ** _GO BACK TO COKEWORTH, MUDBLOOD SCUM_**

"What-what does it mean?" she asked, as she felt her bottom lip begin to tremble. She knew it was something awful because something about the way the handwriting looked, slanted with hate.

"Mudblood is an awful term for a muggleborn" Marlene explained, and Lily couldn't help but think she was relishing in the drama. "It's real bad to call someone that. Like if someone called you bitch, or slut, or cunt, or-"

"Okay Marlene! I get it!" Lily had never been called any of those things throughout her life.

Mary and Dorcas stared at Lily with wide eyes.

"Lily, who would do this to you?" asked Mary.

"It doesn't matter. The most important thing you can do right now is go to Dumbledore, Lily. He won't stand for things like this to happen, he said just as much the other night" Dorcas said calmly.

"No!" said Marlene and the other girls jumped "No. I mean yes of course we will go to Dumbledore. But you have to go to him with a list. A list of names of people you know could have done this to you. And you'll have reasons for everyone of those names being on that list. So that Dumbledore will have no choice but to kick them out of school. And they'll be lucky that's all he'll do. Since whoever wrote that deserves to have their brain picked out of them through their ears. He's too soft, Dumbledore"

"But I can't make a list" said Lily "I haven't got any idea who'd do this!" Even as she said this, her mind drifted to the people who he knew disliked her: Potter and Black. Could they be responsible?

"Well, I do!" said Marlene "Number one person on that list Sirius Black, his family hates muggles and he has access to the Gryffindor Common Room. Boom! Kicked out of school. Number two person Lucius Malfoy, also hates muggles and is a prefect so probably has access to all sorts of things regular students don't. Number three is your little Slytherin friend Snape-"

"Sev would never do something like this! I don't think he even knows that word! Also, I'm not going to get all of those kids kicked out of school." Even though she too had thought of Sirius Black, she could hardly accuse him without any proof.

Marlene sighed. She fixed Lily with a look clearly saying she was not finished with this. Lily couldn't help but thinking Marlene was using this as an excuse to get all the people whose families she did not like kicked out of Hogwarts.

"We'll finish the list after Potions, we're late."

Lily turned around reluctantly to take one last look at the awful graffiti, before she and the rest of the girls hurried down the stairs

p align=center-/p

They made it to potions just as the bell rung. Lily could still feel her heart pounding in her chest and it wasn't just from sprinting all the way to the dungeons. She took a brief look around the dimly lit dungeon which was decorated with posters of bubbling potions along the stone walls. and cupboards stacked with jars of exotic ingredients.

She slid into the desk next to Sev's, relieved that he had saved her a seat next to him.

As Professor Slughorn made his way to the front of the room, Lily whispered to Severus what had just happened. All in one breath.

"What? " he hissed "What do you mean graffiti? What did it say? Was it bad?"

Lily looked at him in partial disbelief.

"No Sev it was quite pleasant, someone made an effort to break into my room just to ask 'Alright, Lily?''

He did not laugh, only stared back at her with black eyes that bored into hers.

"What did it say" he mouthed silently

Just at that moment, Slughorn had begun to speak, and Lily and Severus held their conversation.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" touted Slughorn, his round belly protruding from purple velvet robes. He was gleaming around the room, his bald head shining. "My! All of these young brilliant minds. So much talent in one room!" his eyes fell to the desk where Potter and Black were sitting and then again to one of the Slytherin boys sitting behind Lily and Severus.

"It is my pleasure to introduce you first years to the Art of Potion making. And you notice I say art, not science. Potion making involves subtly, intuition, and careful decision making. It is a class, I must say, that many students struggle in. But don't let yourself get discouraged. I do admit to you all that my very first time brewing Draught of the Living Dead, the entire potion congealed in the cauldron. Took weeks to hack it all out in chunks, like it was an overdone Sticky Toffee Pudding!" He grinned around the room as if he had just made a terribly funny joke. Some students let out a small laugh, out of sympathy.

"Now, without further ado-" he whacked his wand against the blackboard and a set of instructions impeccably written appeared. "-for our first class, I'd like to get a picture of where everyone stands. Like I had said before, I've heard very encouraging things about this class. Now I've written out the instructions of a very simple potion. Your task is to brew it and then find out what it does. Or rather what your partner's does." He brought his hands to either side of his mouth as if letting them in on a secret. "By drinking it!"

The students looked around skeptically at one another, as there was a clang of cauldrons being set up. This seemed like rather a lot. They were barely doing any magic in most of their classes, and here they were being expected to poison one another?

"Don't worry, none of these ingredients can be combined to make anything toxic or harmful. It's exactly why I choose this potion for my first years. If you make the potion wrong it will simply have no effect! Which is, while embarrassing, is not dangerous." He looked around the room cheerfully as if this answered any questions they may have had.

It did seem to calm the students nerves somewhat as there was slightly more cheerful chatter as people made their way to the ingredients cupboard.

"What did it say?" hissed Sev again once Slughorn had stopped talking and they made their way to the line for the ingredients. Lily looked around, she didn't want to say it out loud.

"Mudblood" she mouthed as they plopped back down in their seats carrying their ingredients. "It said go back to Cokeworth, mudblood scum"

Sev's eyes flashed and his lips became a tighter line, but other than that he showed no shock.

"Do you have any idea who it might have been?" he asked quietly.

"Oy Snape! What they hell are you whispering about with that little girl?" A rude, but unfamiliar, voice interrupted Severus and Lily's conversation. Lily whipped around and saw one of the Slytherin boys who was at the desk behind them. He was rather tall, even sitting down, with buzzed brown hair and a sneering face that would have look right at home with a facial tattoo.

"I mean the entire week this bloke ain't says two words to any of us. Now he's here chatterin' away with some stupid girl?"

This time the other Slytherin boy responded. He had long dirty blond hair and that was pulled back in a bun, with sideburns and a face like a pug.

"He may be saying his goodbyes. She won't be here very long, once they find out she can't do magic. I hear she's a muggle"

Lily opened her mouth in outrage to retort but Severus who hadn't even turned around pulled her back so she was facing front.

"It's fine, I'll deal with them later." he stared at her again as he let go of her, to be sure she wasn't going to whip right back around. "It'll just make things worse right now." he muttered.

Severus began to organize his potions ingredients in neat little piles. Resigning herself to an awful, day Lily began to prepare her things as well, although not nearly as neatly.

The class was in a little bit of disarray, with the majority of them never having brewed a potion before. There were a few yelps of pain as some people cut themselves while chopping up dandelion root, bottles of ingredients were being knocked over left and right by clumsy elbows and James Potter almost took off Peter Pettigrew's eyebrows by setting his flame too high on the boiler.

Lily was just chopping up her dandelion root, when Sev tapped her arm, he showed her something in his right hand under the desk. It was a piece of plain parchment and an ink bottle.

Lily peered closer at the ink bottle, as there was a bright yellow label wrapped around the outside of it, which none of the ink bottles she had seen had. " _Montgomery Nettle's-Nearly-there-Without-a Trace Invisible Ink_ " the label said in chunky purple letters, underneath that it said, " _Correspond with friends- or enemies- and leave no trace of evidence after fifteen minutes ! Also available in paint form, for unsure but aspiring artists_ "

The wrapper around the cork made it look brand new. Lily raised her eyebrows at Sev. He quickly unfolded the parchment and ripped open the invisible ink, which looked rather similar to normal ink.

He dipped his quill and scribbled something down in cramped handwriting.

 _This will make it easier to correspond, without having them interrupt us. And it will disappear after a bit_

Lily read quickly as he nudged the sheet towards her and the bottle of invisible ink.

Lily hesitated, but stopped chopping and dipped the quill. Anything was better than dealing with the two awful boys behind them.

 _Where did you even get this? This looks brand new_.

She realized as she passed the paper back to Sev it sounded as if she were incredulous he could afford something that was new.

 _I borrowed it from Avery. They sell it at some of the joke shops I think his parents bought it for him._

Lily looked at him questioningly, and then looked back at the pug faced Avery.

 _Borrowed_?

 _He doesn't know I borrowed it yet. But it was just sitting under his bed he wasn't even going to use it. You should see all of the Dark Objects Mulciber has under his! More important-who do you know who could have written that graffiti?_

 _I don't know! I was going to ask you. Maybe Potter or Black? Marlene thinks it was someone in Slytherin. Do you know of anyone?_

She gave pointed glance to the two boys behind them. Sev thought carefully and then wrote down a brief response.

 _Who's Marlene?_

 _One of the girls in my dorm-_ Lily paused in her writing. Well if it was invisible ink she might as well be honest -S _he's a bit bossy_

Sev seemed to be thinking for a bit and then scribbled something.

 _It can't have been a boy. Boys aren't allowed in the girls dormitories. It's magically protected and no one's been able to break it, our prefect told us. I don't know if it was a Slytherin either. No one in my year knows where the Gryffindor common room even is, let alone the password. I can't imagine the older students would know either. You should ask whatever it is that guards your common room if they saw anyone from another house sneak in._

The fat lady! Oh Sev you smart little boy! How could Lily forget, they had literally just walked right by her on their way to Potions, like dunderheads.

He continued to write.

 _But I don't think it was a Slytherin. No one knows the Gryffindor's password._

 _Well who else then_?

Sev paused and looked at Lily seriously. He scribbled.

 _It would have been easiest for a Gryffindor girl to do. What do you know about the girls in your dorm?_

Lily felt very uncomfortable, was he suggesting it could have been one of them?

 _Well Marlene, she's the bossy one. She's sort of mean but also not horribly mean._ Lily wrote weakly trying of think of a better way to describe Marlene but it was hard to think, write and brew a potion at the same time.

Making the potion was enjoyable for Lily, she had learned some baking from her mother and it seemed similar. Just follow the instructions and adjust little things as necessary.

Lily also knew a lot of the plant ingredients from her father's gardening and didn't have to waste time like others comparing globs of dried leaves to pictures in the textbook.

She continued to write to Sev.

 _She talks an awful lot about her family and how important they are. She sounds like she doesn't like Slytherins._

 _People can hide who they are. Does she have an alibi?_

 _Yes she was with me in Charms-_ Lily stopped writing, but she did go to the dorm without Lily afterwards.

 _Wait, she did go back up to the dorm without me! She was with Mary though._

 _Is Mary the fat one?_

Lily glared at Sev, he shrugged and looked at her blankly. He was just not the type of person to sugar coat things, he wasn't trying to be mean Lily knew that.

 _She's slightly chubby yes. But she's muggle-born too I really don't think she would let Marlene do such a thing._

 _Is she the type of person to stand up against McKinnon? Maybe she was scared._

 _Well no not really, I suppose she mostly does what Marlene says-_ Lily paused and looked over at Marlene who was crushing her scarab beetles violently into the desk with a satisfied expression. _Do you really suppose Marlene could have done it? She made such a dramatic show about how evil it was._

 _Well is she a dramatic person?_

 _Yes, I guess so_

 _So she's a good liar then_

Lily thought silently about this as she continued to brew her potion, it seemed to be coming together quite well. It was a clear sky blue and simmering slightly.

"Did you add all of the minced lacewings ? asked Sev, speaking this time, stirring his own lilac colored brew, he was a step behind Lily.

"No just enough until it turned colors" whispered Lily. Sev picked up his non-invisible ink and scribbled something into his well-worn textbook. Lily felt a bit flattered, hoping it was her tip.

"I know it's a laughing elixir. I can tell, my mum brews potions."

"Do like potions? I feel like it's rather fun." she whispered.

Sev gave a shrug

"It's alright, I think it's a bit boring. I think I'll enjoy dueling more."

She glared at him. He looked back at her, confused.

"It's not boring! It's subtle and artistic!" And it's the only thing I've been able to do right here, she thought.

Sev looked at her and gave the slightest smile.

"Whatever you say, Slughorn"

Lily could see their note on the parchment was already disappearing.

Most of the other students cauldrons were smoking caustic fumes, turning awful shades of brown. Slughorn looked a bit disappointed as he peered across the room.

"Well as we are finishing up, pick someone who can try out your potion and we'll see if anyone's-"

"Professor?" the boy with the shaved head's hand was up in the air.

"Yes, Mr. Mulciber?"

"I was jus' wondering. My potions about done, you see? An' I was wondering if this lovely little girl in front could try it? She helped me make it you see."

Lily turned around and scowled at him, she saw that his potion was venomous black and looked particularly vile.

"Don't drink that, Lily!" Sev hissed in her ear "He added something extra, I'm sure- something dangerous. He had a jar of concentrated hemlock in his trunk. And he probably didn't even add it right so it's even more dangerous-"

"Wot the hell are you whispering about, Snape?" Mulciber stared incredulously at him."Are you engaged to be bloody married to this muggle? "

The other boy laughed. Sev's hand shot up into the air.

"Professor, I don't think Lily should drink-"

"Shut the hell up, tattletale!"

"Now, boys!" said Slughorn disapprovingly from across the room. He apparently did not see the consistency of Mulciber's potion, and seemed confident that no one could possibly make a harmful potion out of the listed ingredients.

"The worst it will do is have no effect. I do this every year. If Mulciber wants to volunteer then we should encourage his energy." He smiled around the room encouragingly.

Sev turned to Lily and shook his head frantically side to side indicating that under no circumstance should she ingest whatever Mulciber gave her.

"Snape, if I have to tell you to shut up one more time-"

"I'm sorry Professor, the Slytherin side of the room is being very disruptive. Is there anyway to shut them up with one of your potions? " came Potter' voice from across the room. "And while you are it could you give them something to make their faces less ugly too?"

"Oh shut up, Potter. Mind your own business!" Lily said angrily.

"I can't even stir my potion in a counterclockwise pattern without hearing Snivellus's sniffly voice. It's interfering with my education, Evans" Some of the class laughed. Mulciber and the other boy looked unsure of whether to laugh or scowl and both settled on a curled upper lip.

Sev turned towards the Gryffindor's side of the room.

"Is that your excuse for why your Laughing Elixir looks like mottled vomit." he shot back at Potter.

This time the Slytherin side of the room laughed.

The boys behind Sev continued to look unsure of whose side they hated more.

"Really, Snivellus, cause I thought it looked like your mum's face too." This time it was Black's retort that carried across the room.

"Boys-" Slughorn tried to interject but Severus talked over him.

"That's the best insult you can come up with, Black? I suppose that's why you're always with Potter since you each only have a half of a brain." Severus seemed riled up, more than how Lily had ever seen him. His normally pale face looked mottled. She wasn't sure what the argument between the boys was accomplishing but Sev was right, the insults were becoming stupider and stupider.

"Well that's still more of a brain than all four of you sitting there combined. You, Mulciber, Avery and Evans. Do Mulciber and Avery always look this constipated or is that just because they are trying to not breath in your greasy stench all day?"

"It's not his fault, Sirius. " Potter's voice carried across the room again. "He's probably so poor that for him water is a luxury. Could probably only afford one bath a year. He's sleeping next to Mulicber though so he may not even know what clean smells like -"

"Oy, Potter would you like to have some of my potion too then?" asked Mulciber spoon the venomous slosh. "I'd love to feed it to your whole damn family"

"And don't you dare open your mouth, traitor" Avery cut in and addressed Black across the room "You should be ashamed you're not in Slytherin, but here you are having a go at us. Your cousin did say you always were a bit wonky-"

"BOYS!" Slughorn was on his feet. 'Really! This is uncalled for! Miss. Evans will take a drink from Mr. Mulciber's potion and we'll be done with it. Miss. Evans now I assure you it's not poison. It's important that you trust your professors"

The room was silent. Lily's heart was pounding, Sev's warning was in her head. Everything, every single thing, that he had told her about magic had been true. There was no doubt in her mind that Sev was right and Mulciber had added something poisonous to his potion.

Sev was not one to panic, but his eyes were fearful as he shook his head side to side again. Everyone was watching as Mulciber poured Lily a hefty glass of the black mixture, and smiled evilly at her.

"Now, Miss. Evans, just one sip will do"

Lily's hand shook as she took the potion and brought it to her mouth.

The room seemed to collectively hold its breath.

She put her lips on the cold glass cup but could not open her mouth to drink it. She looked at Mulciber's smug face.

NO! said a stubborn voice in her head.

She slammed the cup back on the table without taking a sip and before anyone could say word she slapped the cup over. Mulciber pushed his chair back immediately so the potion misses Mulciber but spilled all over the front of Avery's robes. Glass shattered as the cup smashed to the floor.

The pandemonium was instantaneous. Avery started screaming and yelling as if the potion was burning him. Slughorn rushed over to see the damage.

Mulciber took his entire cauldron and launched it at Lily, which would have hit her square in the face, had Sev not reflexively swung Lily around the other side of the desk and ducked her under it with him for protection.

There was yelling as more glass vials from the Gryffindor's side were thrown into the air towards the Slytherin's side of the room. Lily saw Black and Potter each drop kick their own cauldrons towards Mulciber. The Slytherin side retaliated with their own vials and cauldrons. Sounds of clanging, screaming, cursing and smashing glass filled the room.

Lily had never been a part of a food fight, but she imagined it was a similar experience, only without dangerous potions and breaking glass.

Screaming and yelling, crying, and lots of clanging of cauldrons ensued. Lily saw Dorcas who had been hiding behind a desk with Mary crawl out and launch a jar of pickled puffer fish eyes right at the back of Mulciber's head.

Marlene was crouching also behind a desk with her cauldron held out in front of her like a weapon.

It was a mark of the overall potion-making ability of the class that most of the thrown potions seem to have no effect. The only exception being Severus's which when he darted out of hiding and sloshed Black and Potter with as they ran by, left them in a fit of non-stop laughter. And Mulciber's which seemed to slowly burning Avery.

Severus took advantage of Potter being incapacitated by laughter and stood over him with his wand outstretched.

"Fumirius!" he whispered and a cloud of black smoke pooled around Potter's head, and he began to cough as if he could not breath. The smoke seemed to circle around his neck as if strangling him.

"ENOUGH" shouted Slughorn from the front of the room and purple sparks shot out form the end of his wand. The smoke around Potter cleared immediately. The class went silent, paused in complete disarray. A Slytherin girl froze in the middle of trying to dunk Peter face first into her cauldron.

"Enough already! This is unacceptable-Never in my years of teaching- Disrespectful- Potions flying across the room. Injuries-" he seemed unable to finish a coherent thought. He compromised by making a very angry face and sending out the purple sparks again. "Avery, to the infirmary NOW! Potter and Black come up to my desk for the antidote. " he made a noise that sounded like _h_ _arumph_. "And because I can't punish every single one of you, I'll settle for the person who started this mess." He glared at Lily angrily. "Miss Evans. Detention. 9 pm tonight in this dungeon. And twenty points from Gryffindor."

The class ended early, due to the circumstances. Though most people left looking rather ashamed, Lily doubted any of them felt as bad as she did.

She was the first Gryffindor to get detention, and the first one to get points taken off. She hadn't meant to start anything, they were all being so awful to each other beforehand. She supposed she shouldn't have been so dramatic in knocking over the potion.

But why did she have to be the one to swallow poison? Why did it seem that everything was out to get her here and she was supposed to just take it? The unfairness of it quibbled briefly with the shame she felt, but in the end the shame won.

She was almost out of the door, with Sev following closely behind her, when Potter jumped up on the desk closest to the door and sneered down at Sev, as he towered above him.

"You're dead, Snape." he spat , and he raised his hand so it was a millimeter from the center of Sev's forehead. "Dead. I will ruin you, do you understand, you and your ugly little cronies. Don't you ever use dark magic on me again or that spell will be the last words that come out of your greasy little mouth" Sev glared back at Potter and tried to back away from his now smoldering wand tip but Peter and Black were blocking the doorway, arms crossed.

Lily was too taken aback by the anger coming from Potter to even try to interfere. Was the hex that Sev had used Dark magic? Did he think that Avery and Mulciber were friends with Sev? Or was Sev just the easiest one to target because he was alone.

"POTTER! Enough! On the desk, really!" Slughorn sounded like he was on the verge of an apoplexy.

* * *

"I can't believe you already have detention, Evans" Potter clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "Whatever will you tell your dear parents. 'Dear Mummy and Daddy, today I lost my house 20 points because I started a brawl.'"

"And then hid behind a desk the entire time and let everyone else get hurt" added Black smugly.

Lily did not look up from her Charm's essay. She was not going to let them bait her.

It was after dinner and the first year Gryffindors were lounging in a corner of the common room, not yet cool enough to engage in the shenanigans of the older students.

Lily was keeping an eye on the clock, since, as her classmates so kindly were reminding her, she had to go to detention at nine.

Potter, Black, and Peter were occupied with something at the table over from Lily, which she couldn't quite make out. It did not seem to be Charms homework. but did involve a large bottle of Mrs. Skower's All Purpose Cleaner, a cleaning solution the Filch the caretaker often dragged around the corridors with him. Lily was quite sure they had nicked it from him without permission.

Dorcas was curled up the floor engrossed with _Marvin the Muggle_. Mary and Marlene were a few seats down from Lily talking quietly about the rather traumatic events of the day.

"Avery's from a rather prominent Pureblood family, of course, not a great reputation but quite a bit of money. Now the nastier one, Mulciber, his family is less well known, but I know for a fact his great uncle is rotting away in Azkaban for trying to off his neighbor with an enchanted hacksaw."

"Well, thank goodness, Lily didn't drink his potion! You could have been a goner, Lily." Mary said leaning over to look at Lily with wide brown eyes. "And think about how close his scalpel was, he could have taken a leaf out of his uncles book and chopped us all-"

"It's fine, Mary. I overreacted. Mulciber is a tosser but he wan't about to cut us all to pieces."

"Oh that's the least of what his Uncle is accused of." said Marlene with raised eyebrows and pursed lips. "I would not want to have a Mulciber after me, Lily. And now that you've gone and got his attention, well…"

Lily rolled her eyes, Marlene really did have a flair for being dramatic, while sounding like she was better than everybody else at the same time. She shifted her attention to Black and Potter's table.

"Hey! That's not yours!" She had immediately recognized the bottle of _Montgomery Nettle's Invisible Ink_ , as the same bottle her and Sev were using in potions a few hours earlier.

"What, it's not?" said Black acting innocently "Oh no, Evans, do tell us who it belongs to. We'll be sure to give it back."

"No need, Evans, we already gave your friend Snivellus, some of it back." Potter held up the bottle to show Lily that a majority of the ink, which was almost full during Potions, was gone. "We just put it back in his regular ink bottle, though. So now when he goes to write his little essay this weekend. Poof-gone!"

Lily felt her stomach tighten again in anger. She knew for a fact Sev was in the library right now writing his paper in his quick cramped handwriting, which would in about fifteen minutes disappear completely.

"I mean it's not the best plan. He could take a long time to write one sentence and then realize what's going on" said Black morosely "Or he could know how to reverse it. But here's to hoping the greasy git cranks out his page and a half in an impressive twenty minutes. And then turns in an empty piece of parchment" The boys erupted in laughter.

Lily glared at them. Peter stopped laughing.

"You're a bunch of bullies-"

"Is that invisible ink?" interrupted Dorcas, looking curiously at the bottle. "How do you reverse it?"

"Ah, easy question, Meadowes" Potter said grateful that Lily had been effectively shut up. " See Nettle's is a popular present for parents to get their children. That way when their darling little Bobby draws his paintings all over the walls, it just disappears. My parents are just as naive as those parents and have gotten me tons of bottles over the years. But the magic in Nettle's isn't that powerful, which is a shame because its quite expensive from what I hear. So from years of boredom I learned that anything written in Nettle's" he held up a seemingly blank sheet of paper "-is easily reversed by a healthy splash of All Purpose Cleaner." He sloshed the huge bottle of Mrs. Skewer's, purposely splashing the front of Lily's robes in the process. And held up the previously blank piece of parchment which now showed a caricature of a large walrus dressed in wizarding robes, with a speech bubble " _Harumph"_. Lily guessed it was suppose to be Slughorn.

Everyone around him, including the older students as well, roared with laughter at the picture.

Everyone except Lily. Trying not to make her own, harrumph sound, Lily stood up suddenly and began to pack her bag.

"There are spells too, of course. But something about the potion is more permanent."

Let them all worship, Potter and Black, she would just head to Slughorn's dungeon early.

She briefly wondered as her now sopping wet potion book dropped onto the floor, if she was the first person in Hogwarts' history to turn up to detention early.

She turned to leave, but heard Peter's voice, "Lily, you dropped something out of your bag-" he was holding a piece of parchment. With a cold jolt in her stomach Lily realized it was her and Sev's note, written in invisible ink, but recently just doused with a healthy splash of Mrs. Skewer's All Purpose Cleaner.

Potter snatched it out of Peter's hands and began reading greedily, with Black peering over his shoulders. They both roared with cruel laughter.

Lily was frozen.

"Oh girls!" Potter gestured to Marlene, Mary and Dorcas. "You're going to want to hear this" Dorcas and Mary scooted closer to their table. Marlene stayed where she was, pretending not to be interested.

" _'Well Marlene, she_ ' _s the bossy one. She's sort of mean_ '" echoed Black's voice in high pitched girlish imitation of Lily's. Lily felt her insides turn to ice, what else had she written. "' _She talks an awful lot about her family and how important they are_ …'" Lily didn't even have to turn around to know that Marlene's icy stare was drilling into her, probably imagining various specific ways for her to die.

They went on, of course they went on. Potter reading Sev's lines in a exaggerated hissing tone, and Black continuing his imitation of Lily.

"' _..Mary- The fat one?_ '" read Potter, and laughed in disbelief, breaking character for a brief second. "Let's see what Evans says about that-

"' _Yes! She's quite chubby._ '" read Black again in Lily's voice and the room exploded in laughter now. To his credit, Peter who was sitting above Black and Potter on the back of the sofa, did try to help Lily out somewhat, by quickly adding-

"Well okay, Sirius what she says is _slightly_ chubby not -" But Black talked over him and continued reading the note

"Still on Mary- _'I don't think she has the mind for something like that.. she mostly does what Marlene says'_ " answered Black, in silent laughter. Lily had made their work so easy for them. Her words sounded horrible out of context. She was still frozen in her tracks and felt as if she was watching a horrific car crash.

Mary immediately got up and flew up the stairs, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Oh no! We're not even to the good part yet. Sounds like Evans is accusing Marlene of something really bad." said Potter. It occurred to Lily that two boys probably had no idea what the notes were referring to, that there was an awful slur written over Lily's bed just up the stairs.

As much as her hatred for them increased, her suspicions about them as the culprits decreased.

Not that it mattered, the boys were bullies and if Lily could kick them both into the blazing fire behind them she would have done so in a second.

"Let's see if there is something here for Meadowes," continued Black "Ah, right here, _'As for Dorcas Meadowes, my favorite name for her is Dorky Meadowes-"_

"I never wrote that!" hissed Lily but it was in vain. She had written everything else, so what if she hadn't said that?

"Enough" came the voice of Marlene and Lily saw she was standing now, with her arms crossed and an expression of supreme dislike.

She snatched the note out of Blacks hands and threw it in to the fire.

"You disgust me." she said to Lily her icy eyes flashing. "How dare you call Mary fat? More importantly, how dare you insult my family? And accuse me of writing what's up in our dorm, Lily Evans? Don't make me laugh" she looked as if she would more likely spontaneously sprout wings then let a laugh escape from her mouth. " I would never! I'm a McKinnon, I have class. _I_ have a pedigree. _You're_ a nobody. The only thing you have is an ugly wardrobe and no friends."

She began to march upstairs to the girls dormitory, but then turned around halfway up

"And don't try to come back to the dorm to sleep tonight or I will burn your eyelashes off."

She was joined by Dorcas, who glared at Lily angrily, making it very clear she would be supporting the burning of Lily's eyelashes.

They both disappeared to the dorm.

Before she could let herself listen to another stupid word of Black's or Potter's, before she could let any the older Gryffindor students, all of whom had been attentively watching the scene unfold, catch a glimpse of the tears streaming down her face, Lily tore out of the common room as fast as she could.

She nearly flew out of the portrait hole, and kept running until she was as far away as possible from the Gryffindor tower. Here, she stuffed her fist in her mouth and let out the loudest scream she could.


End file.
